Move the US Embassy to Jerusalem

ACTIONS TAKEN:

DEC 2017 – CHRISTIAN LEADERS SEND THANK YOU LETTER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP

American Christian Leaders for Israel (ACLI) is a network of Christian leaders who collectively speak to and represent over sixty million Americans. During your 2016 campaign for President you agreed to our five guiding principles in relation to Israel that over 650 Christian leaders had requested of you. One of those principles was the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to relocate the US Embassy there.

On behalf of all those leaders and the millions of Americans they represent we want to thank you for fulfilling your campaign promise. Thank you for implementing US law passed in 1995, and thank you for treating our friend Israel with the respect that an ally deserves.

President Trump’s Campaign Promises Make History

The unified voices of ACLI leaders significantly influenced President Trump to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to place the U.S. Embassy there, thus implementing The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. An article in the Jerusalem Post entitled “Intense Push by US Evangelicals Helped Set Stage for Trump’s Decision on Jerusalem” mentions ACLI in various places and several leaders in our network.

On Monday, November 27, several Christian leaders sent a letter to President Trump reminding him of his promise to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

During his presidential campaign, Trump had agreed to ACLI’s five guiding principles on Israel as requested by over 650 Christian leaders. One of those principles was to relocate the US Embassy in recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

With only a few days left before the President has to decide whether or not to sign the six-month security waiver on December 1, Dr. Jerry Johnson (NRB), Gary Bauer (CUFI Action Fund), Penny Nance (Concerned Women for America), and I joined together in urging Trump to take bold action now in support of Israel and decide to move the US Embassy without further delay.

Some 60 Christian leaders signed a letter delivered to President Trump yesterday (May 16, 2017) calling on the American administration to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to locate the US Embassy there.The letter opened, “the time has come, at long last, to uphold American law by moving the U.S. Embassy to Israel’s eternal indivisible capital city of Jerusalem.”

Referencing the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, the letter noted that Congress had recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and called for the U.S. Embassy to be moved there by May 31, 1999. Due to presidential waivers every six months delaying the implementation of that law, Israel is the only country where the U.S. does not place its embassy in the functioning capital of the country. This “doublespeak” should end, according to these leaders.

The letter was organized by the American Christian Leaders for Israel (ACLI) an informal network of Christian leaders, managed by the US Branch of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, representing some 60 million Christians across America. The ACLI letter was signed by Evangelical leaders representing diverse groups and denominations; among them Dr. Jerry Johnson, President and CEO, National Religious Broadcasters; Dr. John Hagee, Founder and Chairman, Christians United for Israel; Star Parker, President, Center for Urban Renewal and Education; Penny Nance, CEO, Concerned Women for America; Gordon Robertson, CEO, The Christian Broadcasting Network; Dr. James Dobson, President, Family Talk Radio; Gary Bauer, Washington Director, Christians United for Israel Action Fund; and Janet Parshall, nationally syndicated talk show host.

Susan Michael, ICEJ USA Director, stated her concern the president was being counseled to delay implementation of the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act and to make it part of a peace agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis.“Considering the 24 years of attempted peace agreements by three previous presidents, it is not a good idea to continue waiting. Now is the time to honor our friend and fully recognize Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of Israel.”

The leaders concluded their letter by asking the president to send a message early in his administration that the United States will honor its strongest and only true democratic ally in the Middle East by respecting their capital city—Jerusalem—and immediately moving the US Embassy there.

View the documents:

APR 2017 – US BRANCH OF ICEJ DELIVERS A STRATEGY PAPER ON MOVING US EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM

The USA branch of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, has delivered President Donald Trump and the US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, a strategy paper calling for the Trump Administration to move the American embassy to Jerusalem this year, as Israel celebrates the 50th anniversary of the reunification of the city.

The ICEJ position paper identifies the three main reasons which have been offered by the international community over recent decades to justify their refusal to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel:

The first reason was the idea to internationalize Jerusalem as suggested in the UN Partition Plan of 1947, but this was only intended as a temporary measure and has since become outdated.

The second reason is the need to be even-handed on the issue of Jerusalem, but this too is a poor excuse as many nations – including the US – have placed their top envoys to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, while their counterparts to Israel sit in Tel Aviv.

Thus, the only real reason for this refusal is fear of the potential Islamic backlash, which means this sovereign American decision has become a hostage to Arab threats.

“This is not a policy based on principle, fairness or historical right, but it is based solely on weakness and fear,” the authors of the paper insist. They add that by moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, the Trump Administration will right an historic wrong, send a message to the world that America stands by its allies, and signal to the Palestinians that the time for compromise has come.

The US attitude toward Jerusalem is a gross anomaly in that Israel is the only democratic ally of the United States where its embassy is not located in the capital city as determined by the host country.

“The United States should announce its firm decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to move its Embassy there in the weeks before Israel marks the fiftieth anniversary of a reunited Jerusalem,” the paper advises.

“This year of Jubilee for Jerusalem is the right time for the US to correct this historic injustice by leading the nations back up to Jerusalem,” stated ICEJ-USA Director Susan Michael.